Guilds and guild wars were introduced to Wynncraft in version 1.13, the Wynnter Update, released on 22 December 2014 — the starting point of all guild warfare history.
Guilds were introduced to Wynncraft in version 1.13 — the 'Wynnter Update' — released on 22 December 2014[1]{{cite:https://wynncraft.fandom.com/wiki/Version_1.13|Wynncraft Wiki (Fandom), 'Version 1.13'}}, and guild wars have existed since the same update[3]. Per the official wiki, guilds 'were originally going to just be permanent parties'[1]; instead they became territorial powers, and the war system introduced here is the one under which the entire early guild era and Federation era were fought.
In the original system, players accessed the Guild Master through a teleporter in Troms (moved to the Guild Hall in the 1.14 Gavel expansion of 2015)[1]. The 1.13-era war mechanics — including mob-wave wars fought on dedicated war servers, with territories generating XP — survived with incremental changes for six years, until the ground-up rework in version 1.20 'Gavel Reborn' (20 January 2021[4][5]; see Territory warfare and Guild seasons).
Every era article on this wiki descends from this update: the first territorial powers of 2015–2016, the HackForums dominance, and everything after (see History of Wynncraft guild warfare).